Poultry Farm: Internal and External Analysis

Poultry Farm: Internal and External Analysis Contents (Jump to) Introduction History of Poultry Farm Vision and Mission of Poultry Farm Porters Five Forces Analysis of Poultry Farm PESTLE Analysis of Poultry Farm SWOT Analysis of Poultry Farm Strategic Objectives of Poultry Farm Implementations and Control Conclusion and Recommendations References Executive Summary: Al-Ain Poultry Farm was formed in 1981 and at present it is United Arab Emirates number 1 chicken supplying company. The headquarters of the company is situated in Al-Ain while shops that sell their product are spread all over the country. Other main offices are in Abu-Dhabi and in Dubai.the company deals in chicken and egg products and the consumption of chicken products and other poultry products are very high in urban areas. In external environment, the service of the supplier is quite satisfactory. There are various competitors presents for the Al Ain poultry farm. The names of competitor are like al Rawdah, al Khazana, and Tasil etc. There is also big threat of new entrant in the industry. Sometimes the customers try to do bargaining but the Al Ain poultry farm mostly prefer fixed pricing method so there is no chances for doing bargaining. There is huge impact of the political, legal, and economic, social, ethical and technological issued on the company. Internally, there is a facility for communication with the customer like getting information about the quality of the product; packing information etc. The leadership is managed by the general management in the Al Ain poultry farm company. The image and reputation of the Al Ain poultry farm among the customers is good. So the customers are widely attached with this farm company. If there are any new entrances then it is not severely affected. There is lesser impact of the import product on this company. The company faces a throat cut competition. There are two kinds of risk which is faced by the poultry farm: Production risk and price risk. The strategic objective of the company comprises of deciding the scope of the farm, and gives the knowledge to the members of the farm Talking about the grand strategy, the Company wants to make stability in its growth and profits and thus the company adopts stability strategy. Also For making growth, the company has diversified itself. Introduction: Strategic management is nothing but drafting, implementing and cross checking of various decisions which shall help the company in achieving its long term goals. It specifies the aims and objectives of the organization. It helps in formulating various policies for achieving the companys objectives. Strategic Management is an ongoing process. It is used to evaluate the business as a whole and to assess its various individual processes. Strategic management includes assessing processes on a regular basis. Al-Ain Poultry Farm- History Development Growth: Al-Ain Poultry Farm was formed in 1981 and at present it is United Arab Emirates number 1 chicken supplying company. It is famous for providing the highest quality meat and eggs in the United Arab Emirates as of now. It strives to provide the best and the most healthy chicken at the best possible price to the people of United Arab Emirates. The company has always been committed to this cause and they will always continue to be committed to it. Al-Ain Poultry Farms many types of chicken and they are also providing various varieties of eggs. The headquarters of the company is situated in Al-Ain while shops that sell their product are spread all over the country. Other main offices are in Abu-Dhabi and in Dubai. All key issues are decided upon by the chairman and by the board. Operational issues, managerial works and financial issues are take care by the general manager. A lot of technical machines are being used in the poultry farms for the best results. All such machines come under th e head technical manager. Moreover there are many individual departments which take care of topics like sales and maintenance etc. There is a separate consumer care department which is also basically responsible for the sales and sales related issues. Financial departments are divided region wise throughout the country. The general manager is basically responsible for day to day working of the company. (farm A. A., 2010) In the last two decades there has been tremendous growth and development in the United Arab Emirates. Due to this there has been tremendous growth in the poultry sector of United Arab Emirates. The eating habit has changed a lot in United Arab Emirates. More than 3/4th population of United Arab Emirates is currently residing in urban areas. The consumption of chicken products and other poultry products is very high in such urban areas. There was a time when most eggs and chicken products were imported in the United Arab Emirates. It was somewhere in the mid 90s that local producers of United Arab Emirates were finally able to meet the chicken and poultry requirements of the country. At present there is hardly any import of eggs or any other poultry products. Al Ain poultry aims to be the leading poultry product suppliers in the United Arab Emirates; they aim at increasing their shareholders worth and serving the society by providing high quality chicken and related products. People a t Al Ain have made public health their first priority. At Al-Ain it is believed that success can be achieved through innovation and by maintaining quality of products. Al Ain has a highly trained inspection force which ensures the quality of the product is maintained while production. (2010) Vision and Mission The Al Ain poultry Farm Company the number one company in UAE. It is located in Dubai, Al Ain and Abu Dhabi. Before the establishment of any poultry farms in UAE all frozen chickens and eggs were imported. Then number of poultry farm came into the market. This makes UAE self dependence country and it is estimated that the value of eggs and the fresh chickens consumed in the year 2003 were stood at 400 million circa Dhs. During 1996 the Al Ain took an importance place among the poultry farm market in above mentioned location. It has various competitors like al Rawdah, al Khazana, and Tasil etc. (farm A. A., 2010) Their main mission is supply of the best quality and service with the growth of the shareholder value. But with this they serve the best quality of chickens to the customer because they do not want to play with the health of the customer. Their mission is also to bring satisfaction among the workers. For this purpose, the leadership in the company is held by the Mr. Abdullah Khamis Amer (general manager) he has the quality of dealing with looses and success and also the ability to motivate the employees. To provide best quality of food, the appointed a technical manager named as Dr. Khalid Mohd Abd El Monem. He is responsible for the developing and maintenance of the technology for example the freezer facility for the storage etc. Companys mission is also to earn more profit on lesser cost, to provide all necessary information to the customer, and also take their feedback. This is done by sales and marketing team whose responsibility is given to Mr. Fathi Belail. Thus they want to achieve the belief of the customer with superior quality, product innovation and operation and service efficiency. Their mission and vision are:- Public health on their first preference High inspection in the company Give assurance about their working policy to the customer Make relationship between the Al Ain poultry farm and their customer Maintaining and developing the relation with their processors Supply of only superior quality of product Giving the facility of education, training and development to all employees. A good leader who can develop motivation and can give support to the employees so they can achieve their potential. The employees who can make coordination with the ethical standard and can take responsibility for their work. (AlA101) External environmental analysis The growth of Al Ain poultry farm depends heavily on the external environment in the last two decades. The five force model of the company is as given below:- Porters five force model: Bargaining power of suppliers: The service of the supplier is quite satisfactory. They do not import any chickens from out of the country. So its give benefits in getting discount due to be domestic suppliers. Delivery on time, good quality of chicks and eggs, helps the Al Ain poultry farm company in winning the trust of the customer. Competitor There are various competitors presents for the Al Ain poultry farm. The names of competitor are like al Rawdah, al Khazana, and Tasil etc. Not only the domestic competitors but the company also faces competition from the abroad. Brazil is the aggressive player in UAE chicken markets. The main markets of Brazil are Yemen, UAE, and Saudi Arabia etc. All competitors have adopted approximately same price policy and quality of product so to compete with them is todays time has become more difficult. Threat of new entrants As we see that there is a lot of scope for growing poultry Farm Company. So there is also big threat of new entrant in the industry. The recent new entrances in market are Ain Quide, Al Surk etc. There business is also expended and they are also keen to establish themselves as the best company. Threat of substitute product It is not compulsory that the customer will only prefer chickens in their food, there are lots of substitute for the products of the company. If people are conscious about their health and they can choose vegetarian food and in non vegetarian then can prefer fish, mutton or any others. Bargaining power of customers The customers are also main factor in the external environment. They are educated, so they want to take all information before getting the delivery. In Al Ain poultry farm there is communication network so that they can communicate with the customers. Sometimes the customers try to do bargaining but the Al Ain poultry farm mostly prefer fixed pricing method so there is no chances for doing bargaining. PESTLE analysis: (P)olitical environment The political system is prevailing in a countrys policies and control of business. An honest, efficient and stable political system is become essential factor for the development of any country. In UAE there are three main vital institutions: executive or government, legislature and judiciary. Among the there the legislature is the most crucial political factor which impacts the al ain poultry farm because it includes powers such as policy-making, law making, budget approving mirror of public opinion. (E)conomic environment The three economic factors which effect al ain poultry farm are capitalism, socialism and communism widely. The al ain poultry always want to be in competition with others. Their profit and wages system are based on the ability and willingness to work. There is also a policy so that any owners can divest his capital form the profits. The workers are also free to select an employer and site. Like workers al ain poultry farm select the managers on the basis of their ability. They are also free to make any decision. There are also a limited competition and profits, wages etc fairly in relation to efforts. The company also encourages workers for employment. Generally economic environment consist those factor which bear the functioning of a business. In case of al ain poultry farm the economic system comprise price and distribution controls, per capita and national income, population, financial and fiscal sectors, infrastructure etc (S)ocio-cultural environment There are certain social factors which are beyond the companys gate. These factors include attitude to exalt, family, marriage religion, education attitude to people toward the work and ethics. Some time due to this factors the demand of the al ain poultry farm grew and sometime its falls. (T)echnological environment Technology environment exerts significant influence on business. The impact of technology on the business can be seen as companys product, services, markets, suppliers, competitors, distributors, manufacture etc. Due to technology environment the al ain poultry farm got the continuous growth from last few years. It is also helpful in increasing quality products. The al ain poultry farm has more capital demand, rise of productivity, more emphasis on R&D, and pressure to become more professional etc. (L)egal: The company is also largely affected by industrial and animal related laws. The company is also prone to any sue in commercial court regarding quality of food material. (E)thical: Ethical factors are concerned with the social responsibility part of the company. The poultry farm has some ethical rules to follow regarding maintenance of animals. For example, the company has to maintain proper safety and neatness level in farm etc. Value chain: The value chain consists of the process of value addition in the products of the company. In Al Ain poultry, the value is been added at every stage of production. The company has large farms and number of hens producing eggs. The company maintains large farms and thus feed the animals so that they can produce eggs and meet which are the key products of the company. The company also adds quality to its products by the mean of proper and regular quality check of the products produced by the farm. At each stage of production, proper documentation is done in order to maintain proper accountability of the system. The company is also planning to go for ISO 9001 implementation to increase the quality of the products and to add more value in it. Internal analysis The internal factors consists the factors which are inside the company. The internal factors of the Al Ain poultry farm are:- Products and service This includes inventory management, product modification, and product transportation of Al Ain poultry Farm Company according to the customer needs. Not only the products, this also includes the Al Ain poultry farm companys sales services, promotional for the product, packing, handling of return product and customization. Communication flow There is a facility for communication with the customer like getting information about the quality of the product, packing information etc. Payments system This includes billing for the customer, caring of special customer orders, order frequency, credit cheques and others. Leadership The leadership is managed by the general management in the Al Ain poultry farm company. The general manager looks for various operations like: general, technical, marketing and financial management performance etc. Employees The employees are the backbone of the company and so only skilled labors work here. A satisfactory environment for the working, facility for the coach, support and motivation, giving education to employees, co-operation between the employees and the Al Ain poultry farm company, giving promotion for their work etc are also available in the company. SWOT analysis If we want to analysis any company then the simplest method will be the SWOT analysis. This stood for strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. The information provided by the SWOT is helpful in matching the resource and capability of the firm in the todays competitive advantages. The Al Ain poultry farms SWOT analysis is as following:- (S)trengths The strength part shows that how the company is capable in using its resource as per their capability. The strength of Al Ain poultry farm is: The Al Ain poultry farm company is the 1st poultry farm company in the whole UAE. The image and reputation of the Al Ain poultry farm among the customers is good. So the customers are widely attached with this farm company. If there are any new entrances then it is not severely affected. They used different cost for the different products so that every kind of customer is attached with the company. They have used versatile technology. They used new technologys freezer for the storage of the chickens, water resource, method of disposal for the dead birds, preventing them from the dieses and their communication network is so strong so that they can communicate with the customer in easy way. There is lesser impact of the import product on this company. (W)eakness Every company is not capable to its goals because there always remains some weakness in the company. The weaknesses of Al Ain poultry farm are:- They faced a throat cut competition. Its true that they are the 1st poultry farm company in whole UAE but due the competitive environment any little mistake can bring a big problem. The whole business depends only on the chicken products. There is a little bit work in egg products but more than 80 part deals in chickens. The distribution channels are also weak. Sometimes its happened that the delivery of chickens did not reach at the right time and the company bears both cost and morale loses. (O)pportunities In simple language the opportunities shows the future, means what will be condition of future for our company. It answers that is there any chances for getting profit or losses. The opportunities for the Al Ain poultry farm are:- The main reason for growth of any poultry farm is because chickens are considered to be healthy protein diet. There is an increment in the standard of living of the customer and if we look the environment of the UAE then there is also growth in non vegetarian people day to day. As a result the demand of chickens is also increased. Day to day new technology is developed, so now they can store more and more chickens, can bring new quality of food with taste. Competition is increased and so the company has became more conscious about the quality and will try to reduce the cost. This will be beneficial for the both Al Ain poultry farm and the customers. They can get more skilled labor that will create a good environment within the company and can make cooperation with their leaders. (T)hreats The threats refer to the current problem which they are facing. The Al Ain poultrys farm threats are:- There are two kinds of risk which is faced by the poultry farm: Production risk and price risk. Now a days bird flu is spread in the birds, so in this kind of environment it is more difficult to make a quality product. There are lots of competitors, both domestic and foreign; they are facing competition from the other country also. There are lots of substitutes. Due to the substitutes the competition has increased. Thus the SWOT analysis shows the positive and negative side of the Al Ain poultry farm. Strategic objectives Strategy means making long term direction, taking decision, and allocation of resource. Basically we take three kinds of decision in strategic objectives. What, for whom and how can we do so the companys objectives are decided in strategy. Practically speaking, now days the poultry farming has became successful in global market. Thats why the Al Ain poultry farm access to market and specialized inputs with the financial support. So the key strategy of the company is to maintain the supply and ownership of the birds, the whole processing and wholesaling should be the as per the meat hygiene act. The standard of this act are: The transport of meat as per the human consumption Hygienic production Premises processing meat according to the human consumption As we know that this farm also deals with eggs so it operates it under the regulated system and it is the responsibility of managers for the finding markets for their food. The strategic objectives are:- To decide the scope of the farm, and give the knowledge to the members of the farm. All practices are done after the considerations of birds welfare. The poultry covers the topic like lighting, ventilation, health, food protection and management practices. To give assurance about the safety of managers, workers and visitors. Monitoring of various nutrient, impact problems and after that remedial action is taken. Possible business model of the company with the consideration of neighborhood competitors. Effect of the import of chickens on the domestic production. Increasement in the value of domestic product and reduce the import dependency. The poultry farms importance in the customers with more diversified and reasonable price. Knowing the link between productivity and income generation. To reduce impact of the uses of meat and to insure that there is no impact on the natural cycle. (Hill, 2009) Generic strategic There are three kinds of generic strategies for the maintenance and achievement of competitive advantages: Cost leadership, differentiation, focuses strategy. If we see at the Al Ain poultry farm then conclusion is that Al Ain poultry farm has adopted a differentiation strategy. Because as we know the Al Ain poultry farm focuses on the different kinds of chickens product and each products has its attribute so it charge the price according to the products feature. The reasons for adapting to this strategy are By this they make brand loyalty among the customer form the rivals. There are all kinds of products according to the customer need so every customer is attached with the particular product. Not only for the feature there is also differentiating in the pricing so that every level of the customers is attached. For managing the supplier also. Why? Because if any supplier charges higher value for the material then it can be managed in any other product and this is possible only when the farm is diversified in chicken products. There is also a benefit from the side of the customers. There will be large number of buyers and we know that if there is large number of buyers then their power for negotiation will be low due to price fixation and low alternatives. If there is any new entry then there will be negligible impact on the customer loyalty. Thus for all above the reason the company has adopted the differentiate strategy. But the company also deals in eggs with the chickens so for that company follows the cost leadership strategy which brings the ability to compete with competitors and bring attraction of the customers and reduces the defect rate. (farm A. A., 2010) Grand strategic A record production in poultry and meat industry last year shows that various poultry farms have work harder for the growing consumption need. For the production of chickens the poultry farm has adopted grand strategy by the trade organization. A grand strategy involves the essential action for the long term plan and to achieve its major objectives. So we will analyze the Al Ain poultry farm companys grand strategy on the bases of market, diversification, product, organizational development, strategic etc. After the analysis of its corporate and generic strategies, we will discuss the grand strategy on the three levels Growth strategy Retrenchment strategic Stability strategy For making growth, the company has diversified itself. For that it does innovation, changes its received and takes the feedback of the customer and also they provide different variety of chickens. If there is any failure in the receipt then they adopt accordingly. This strategy built willingness in the company to try new things. The company is also trying for the new market for its product. (farm A. A., 2010) The company wants to make stability in its growth and profits and thus the company adopts stability strategy. The Al Ain poultry farm company do the research only on the new product. The research is done on the quality and the price. They do not change the existing products and price policy. There is no retrenchment strategy followed by the farm company because they do not want to make any reduction in their business activity. Implementation and control After all this analysis about the external and internal environment and the various strategies, objectives of the Al Ain poultry farm in UAE we can say that the poultry farms in UAE are growing day by day. The company has implanted all those objectives and strategy, keeping in mind things like the impact on the environment, what is the government strategy for the poultry farm, the customer view and the cooperation of the staff and top management. Thats why the production increased by 25 % in comparison to last year and the market share of Al Ain poultry farm is also increased by 20 % in UAE. The various implementations and way they are controlled by the both management and government are mentioned in following:- Water supply The chickens are preceded in adequate water supply, clean and cool with the better quality. The water is needed in the farm for fire protection and shed cooling. Except this the hatched chicks should also access water within the 72 hour. The Al Ain poultry farm has a reserve capacity minimum of one day. Vehicular access The transportation policy of the farm is made after the consideration of traffic, delivery vehicles, road works etc. The funding of transportation needs the negotiation of developer, local council and transport development. Noise, electricity supply The supply of the electricity is at minimum cost and as per the requirement. But due to the large level of a poultry farm they get three phase of electricity supply. There is noise when the farm is established and due the various birds and this is controlled by the environment protection policy. Buffer distances Sometimes it happens that due to water quality, dust and noise, odor and management policies, some places are affected. So there should be a buffer distances maintained between the farm and impact area. All activity is done for the omission of this kind of practices and dourness. The control on the disease is also an issue. So there is a distance between every poultry farm which is approx 100 meter. Site selection and development They have selected the site after the consideration of distance of the market, environment and the government regulation. Water management Water management includes Disposal of dead birds: there is an arrangement of disposal of dead birds without any harm to the natural environment. Sometime they face the problem of contamination of surface water and ground, odour problems and fly infestation. But they follow the EPA recommendations like freezing of dead birds so that ordure problem can be reduced, and the disposal is done in the licensed water etc. Disposal of waste eggs: the eggs are disposal by the composting, rendering the byproduct plan which are environmentally sound. Recommendations and conclusion After the analysis about the various parts of the Al Ain poultry farms we can be say that no one is perfect and neither the farm under consideration. In SWOT analysis we have discussed the problem faced by the company. So there should be actions against them. According to us the following action should be taken by the Al Ain poultry farm:- As we see that the company mostly deals in cash, so there can be credit facility available to the customers. The company should allow the credit card etc for the payment. The Al Ain poultry farm company deals only in two products Chickens and eggs. So the company needs to diversify itself. It can diversify by the two ways: expansion and launching new products. As we see that the business of the Al Ain is only in the three major cities of the UAE so it should established its business in more cities and it should also launch vegetarian food along with this chickens and eggs. As many times its been seen that due to lack of inspection and monitoring the birds gets spoil, and they used them without checking them. So there should be regular and proper inspection. It will be good if there is a monitoring system on daily bases. The Al Ain poultry farm disposes the dead bird in the nearest places, which is also harmful so the disposal of dead bird should be approx 1000 meter far from the company sites. The quality of chickens should be checked. The uncooked chicken should be store in the refrigerators. There should be prevention action from the various dieses like the flu etc. References: Al Ain farm. 2010. Welcome to Al Ain poultry farm. [Online](Updated on Jan 2010) Available at http://www.alainpoultry.com/ [Accessed on April 30th, 2010]. Al Ain farm. 2010. Mission and Values. [Online](Updated on Jan 2010) Available at http://www.alainpoultry.com/main.asp?id=3 [Accessed on April 30th, 2010]. Al Ain farm. 2010. Shops and maps. [Online](Updated on Jan 2010) Available at http://www.alainpoultry.com/main.asp?id=5 [Accessed on April 30th, 2010]. Hill, Charles Jones, Gareth. 2009. Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach. 9th Edition : Cengage Learning Hemodynamics: Blood Flow Hemodynamics: Blood Flow Introduction Hemodynamics is the study of blood flow across the body and forces affecting it, often measured using various methods that are either invasive or noninvasive. Hemodynamic monitoring is necessary for making timely patient assessment, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment decisions in case of cardiovascular malfunctions and imbalances caused in the amount of blood ejected by the heart. There are several invasive methods for monitoring blood flow like Thermodilution, Dye dilution and Fick methods. These methods are usually confined to hospitals and clinics with people having specific skills perform, also, these methods are associated with complications like infections, hemorrhage, arrhythmia etc. Impedance Plethysmography techniques which use the changes in electrical impedance over body surface for measurement of changes in the tissue volumes can be used to study hemodynamics. Impedance Cardiography (ICG) is a noninvasive and flexible method of calculating cardiac stroke volume providing information that is similar to invasive monitoring at low cost and risk. While invasive monitoring is done in pre-operative situations on patients already suffering from cardiovascular problems which involves catheter insertion, ICG can be performed on people any time for monitoring hemodynamic parameters that will help in diagnosis of problems occurring in near future. There are multiple ways of monitoring hemodynamics through ICG of which Thoracic Electrical Bioimpedance (TEB) is a basic variant that involves placement of electrodes on the root of the neck and at the cartilaginous section at the lower end of the sternum which is not attached to any ribs. The volume of blood flow varies during every cardiac cycle almost periodically. This changes the electrical impedance in thorax region. Negative time derivative of the measured impedance is called impedance cardiogram. Research in the field of Impedance Cardiography started with the study of flow of fluids in body, especially in cardiac area using Impedace Plethysmography techniques since 1940s [1Bonjer]. By early 1970s Using ICG for calculation of cardiac parameters like cardiac stroke volume came on track [2Cooley]. Several comparative studies are done in the field between non-invasive ICG and invasive methods like Thermodilution which shown promising results in favour of ICG [3 Nechwatal, 4Denniston].In [5Quesnay] they discussed the implementation of ICG on subjects with heart diseases and while they were performing exercise. Results have shown that cardiac parameters measured during these tests are reliable and mostly accurate. With improvement in technology in ICG, wearable devices or garments are being designed for facilitating long term recordings and provide comfort to the patients or test subjects [6JUAN]. Since the inception of impedance cardiography there has been an increase in the reli ability of the technique and improvement in measurement of cardiac parameters [7Greenfield 13Dilek]. Measurement of ICG requires the subjects to lay in a supine position without any movement to cancel out the artifacts that are caused due to other body signals which lead to unwanted changes of the signal recorded and make the patient uncomfortable. Presence of these artifacts makes it difficult for the people reading the signals and also affect the diagnosis leading to results that are inaccurate. These artifacts have to be removed before monitoring the signals to take correct decisions through filtering. Most of these artifacts are non-stationary in nature and cannot be predicted. Artifacts that are prominent in TEB include those varying with the changes that occur in surroundings like power line interference which makes base line of the original signal to change and with the movement of patient. Some artifacts occur from inside our body like Respiratory artifact that is prominent in ICG .Often patients are required to hold their breath to cancel out this artifact, but it is shown in [5Quesnay] that this may affect the stroke volume parameter. There are also others like Motion artifacts and Electrode artifacts which bring changes to the signals that are unwanted. Filtering methods for processing the artifacts are either adaptive or non-adaptive. Since the artifacts that are to be processed in the signals obtained are ever changing in nature, non-adaptive filters that have linear transfer functions doesn’t provide good results in the process. Whereas time varying potentials can be detected using adaptive filtering techniques whose filter specifications change at every step. In [14Huang] they used LMS algorithm based adaptive filter for cancellation fo motion artifacts and got satisfactory results. In [15Allan] Allan et.al used a scaled fourier linear combined (SFLC) technique is proposed for filtering noncorrelated noise in ICG. They have succeeded in proving that their proposed method could remove noises that are not in synchronization with heart rate. In [16Dormer] used SFLC-RLS filter which shows improvement in performance compared to SFLC-LMS filter used in [15Allan]. [17Pandey] used LMS based adaptive filtering to remove respirator y artifacts in Impedance cardiogram signal. In this paper we discussed application of Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm and its variants Normalized LMS (NLMS), Time varying step size (TVSLMS) Adaptive step size (ASLMS) and Constrained stability LMS (CSLMS) in ICG signals for artifact removal. Along with these algorithms, signed regressor form of these variants which decreases the number of computations are also used. The artifacts that are considered in this paper are Power Line Interference (PLI), Respiratory artifacts, Motion artifacts (MA), Muscle artifacts. Section II describes the filtering techniques that are used on ICG signals in brief. Section III provides the information on data acquisition using VU-AMS device. The results and discussions of the techniques used are given in section IV followed by conclusions. Adaptive Filtering Techniques LMS Invented by Widrow and Hoff in 1960, Least mean squares algorithm is a category of adaptive filters that adapt based on current value of error signal. Input to the LMS algorithm is a signal that needs filtering and a desired signal as reference, LMS is an iterative technique that minimizes the Mean Square Error (MSE) between these two signals. Low complexity is a significant feature of LMS algorithm which made it as a benchmark for other adaptive filtering algorithms. The process of filtering using LMS involves the following steps, Compute the output from the filter using inputs. Estimating the error between the output signal and desired signal. Changing the tap weights of the filter according to the error obtained above and a constant step size. The above steps are executed iteratively to reduce the error between filter output and desired signal. Filter will be of length L, each time L samples from the input signal will be processed at a time in each step until entire samples are processed. Let x(n) be the input of the filter and d(n) be the reference signal. Input is taken from a sliding window over the input. For every step the window slides over required number of samples. Let y(n) be the output from the filter and w(n) is the weights of the taps, these weights can be different for every tap. u is the step size which is a constant. LMS algorithm can be summarized in the equations below that are in accordance with the steps above, For the first iteration arbitrary tap weights are assumed and filtering is started. After a few iterations the weights adapt in accordance with the error signal to give desired signal as output. Step size is a main factor that influences weight update equation. If the step size is too small, the convergence of the signal will be too slow and filter requires more memory. If the step size is too high, convergence rate will be faster but there will be information loss. NLMS The convergence of output towards desired signal depends on weight update equation. Tap weights that are updated are directly proportional to the present inputs. If the future inputs to the filter vary greatly with the present inputs of the filter, there will be an increase in the error signal. To solve this problem the step size in weight update equation is normalized with squared Euclidian form of input vector. The weight update equation of NLMS technique is written as, Here b is a small constant added to avoid difficulties in case of small x(n) values. NLMS method can achieve faster convergence when compared to LMS. Since the step size of these filters does not change much, these are considered as linear filters which give linear output for linear input. CSLMS This method is an improvement of NLMS algorithm to achieve faster stability conditions. Constrained Stability LMS method is described by the equations that follow, Where and . A positive constant of small value in the denominator helps preventing problems when value of x(n) is too small. Here the value of error and input in weight update equation not only depend on present value but also previous value, unlike LMS and NLMS where the dependency of weight update equation is more on present values than all the past values combined. TVSLMS Step size in the weight update equation decides the convergence rate of the filter. It is fixed for the filter depending on the input signal, desired signal and required convergence rate. If the input signal is varying with time in an undetermined way, it is difficult to set the value of step size. So, time varying step size method of LMS is proposed. The time variance of step size is determined by a decaying factor. TVSLMS method is described by the following equations, The step size at each step can be varied according to the following function, Where is the decaying factor and C, a and b are positive constants that will determine the value of decaying factor. At each step the decaying factor is multiplied with initial step size. This method can achieve faster convergence rate compared to LMS algorithm with constant step size and also can remove the artifacts effectively. ASLMS In an environment that is not stationary a gradient noise is added to the signal. In such case the value of tap weights change in random fashion instead of terminating on Weiner solution. To overcome this problem Adaptive step size algorithm is proposed where a fourth step is added to the LMS method which resembles the weight update equation. Step size of the filter is updated at each step as, Here is a small positive constant and y(n) is defined as the partial derivative of tap weight vector with respect to step size parameter at a sample or iteration. ASLMS attains faster convergence rate since the step size of next iteration depends on the input and error at current iteration, unlike TVSLMS algorithm where step size of present iteration depends on the initial step size. Signed Regressor form In the methods discussed in this section, from LMS to ASLMS the performance of filters increased with decrease in convergence rate but the computational complexity increased gradually. This will result in delay of attaining desired results. To regulate the problem we use signum function to find the polarity of input signal in weight update equation [21Eweda]. By using signum function to input signal we take into consideration only the sign of input signal as shown below, The signum function is given as, The methods discussed above in their signed regressor form have slightly inferior convergence rate and steady state error. But as the mean square error drops the filter speeds up with reduced computations. Simulation and results ICG signals are acquired through VU-AMS (Vrije Universiteit Ambulatory Monitoring System) device under supervision of expert handlers. This device is used for recording ICG signals many a times and provided reliable outputs [18Gonneke- 20Annebet]. Signals are acquired from 19 subjects for a period of 30 minutes. Digitized signals are recorded at 360 samples per second. First 4000 samples of each ICG recording are used for simulation. References Bonjer FH, van den Berg JW, Dirken MNJ. The origin of the variations of body impedance occurring during the cardiac cycle. Circulation. 1952; 6:415-420. Cooley WL, The calculation of cardiac stroke volume from variations in transthoracic electrical impedance. Biomed Eng 1972; 19:316-319. Nechwatal W, Bier P, Eversmann A, Kà ¶nig E, The noninvasive determination of cardiac output by means of impedance cardiography: Comparative evaluation with a thermal dilution technique. Basic Res Cardiol 1976; 71:542-552. Denniston JC, Maher JT, Reeves JT, Cruz JC, Cymerman A, Grover RF, â€Å"Measurement of cardiac output by electrical impedance at rest and during exercise†. J Appl Physiol 1976;40:91-95. M.C. Du Quesnay, G.J. Stoute, and R.L. Hughson, â€Å"Cardiac output in exercise by impedance cardiography during breath holding and normal breathing,† J. Appl. Physiol., vol. 62(1), pp 101-107, 1987. Juan Carlos Mà ¡rquez Ruiz, â€Å"Sensor-Based Garments that Enable the Use of Bioimpedance Technology: Towards Personalized Healthcare Monitoring†, Doctoral Thesis, Stockholm, Sweden, January 2013, ISBN 978-91-7501-603-0 Harley A, Greenfield JC Jr. â€Å"Determination of cardiac output in man by means of impedance plethysmography†, Aerosp Med. 1968 Mar; 39(3): 248-52. R.P. Patterson, â€Å"Fundamentals of impedance cardiography,† IEEE Eng. Med. Biol. Mag., vol. 8(1), pp 35-38, 1989. Major M J World, â€Å"Estimation of Cardiac Output by Bioimpedance Cardiography†, J R Army Med Corps 1990; 136: 92-99 Nancy M. Albert, â€Å"Bioimpedance Cardiography Measurements of Cardiac Output and Other Cardiovascular Parameters†, Crit Care Nurs Clin N Am 18 (2006) 195 – 202 Chintan V Parmar, Divyesh L Prajapati, Pradnya A Gokhale, Hemant B Mehta, Chinmay J Shah, â€Å"Study of cardiac output based on non – invasive impedance plethysmography in healthy volunteers†, 2: 5 Sep – Oct (2012) 104 – 108. E.Pinheiro, O.Postolache, P.Girà £o, â€Å"Contactless Impedance Cardiography Using Embedded Sensors†, Measurement science review, Volume 13, No. 3, 2013 Dilek Cicek Yilmaz, Belgin Buyukakilli, Serkan Gurgul and Ibrahim Rencuzogullari Mersin, â€Å"Adaptation of heart to training: A comparative study using echocardiography impedance cardiography in male female athletes†, Indian J Med Res 137, June 2013, pp 1111-1120 Zhili Huang, Zhenshen Zheng, Yutian Wu, â€Å"Monitoring Impedance Cardiography By Adaptive Method During External Counterpulsation†, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Vol. 13. No. 2, 1991. Allan Kardec Barros, Makoto Yoshizawa, and Yoshifumi Yasuda, â€Å"Filtering Noncorrelated Noise in Impedance Cardiography†, IEEE Transactions on biomedical engineering, VOL. 42, NO. 3, March 1995 O. Dromer, O. Alata and O. Bernard, â€Å"Impedance Cardiography Filtering using Scale Fourier Linear Combiner based on RLS algorithm†, IEEE EMBS, Sep 2009. Vinod K. Pandey, Prem C. Pandey, â€Å"Cancellation of Respiratory Artifact in Impedance Cardiography†, EMBS, 27th Annual Conference, IEEE, 2005. Gonneke H. M. Willemsen, Eco J. C. De Geus, Coert H. A. M. Klaver, Lorenz J. P. Van Doornen, Douglas Carroll, â€Å"Ambulatory monitoring of the impedance cardiogram†, Psychophys;o/ogy, 33 (1996), 184- 193 . Cambridge University Press. Harrià «tte Riese, Paul F. C. Groot, Mireille Van Den Berg, Nina H. M. Kupper, Ellis H. B. Magnee, Ellen J. Rohaan â€Å"Large-scale ensemble averaging of ambulatory impedance cardiograms†, Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, Computers 2003. Annebet D. Goedhart *, Nina Kupper, Gonneke Willemsen, Dorret I. Boomsma, Eco J.C. de Geus, â€Å"Temporal stability of ambulatory stroke volume and cardiac output measured by impedance cardiography†, Biological Psychology 72, Elsevier(2006) E. Eweda, â€Å"Analysis and design of a signed regressor LMS algorithm for stationary and nonstationary adaptive filtering with correlated Gaussian data,† IEEE Transactions. Circuits Systems., vol. 37, no. 11, pp. 1367–1374, Nov. 1990.

Viktor Frankl

No matter which camp a prisoner was sent to, he was sure to encounter brutal experiences and shameful indignities under the watchful eye of the Nazi's and their appointed camp leaders. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary efines indignity: l. a. An act that offends against a person's dignity or self-respect: Insult. Humiliating treatment. (Indignity, 2014). This definition doesn't seem to do justice when examining the cruel treatment of those imprisoned at Hitler's death camps. In Frankl's book, he tells of many indignities that were stripped away from them.He and his fellow prisoner lacked food, clothing, hygiene, and medical care. These indignities are cruel, but Frankl suggests that it was stripping of deeper indignities that could result in a man loss of will to survive. Prisoners were forced to: ive up their identities and become a number, give up on their goals and accept a lite of pain and suffering, and suffer mental agony at the insults bestowed upon them by leaders of the camp. M ost importantly, prisoners were forced to Just give up hope.A New Destiny Frankl describes arriving at his first camp, departing the train, and standing in a line before a Senior SS officer. He watched as the officer directed prisoners to either the left or right side of him, using his forefinger. He had no idea what this meant at the time, but later in the evening he learned that this was the process in which prisoners ere selected for work or for death. The men that were ushered to the right were the ones the SS officer deemed fit for work. Those that were sent to the left, were destined for the gas chamber, as they were seen as too old or sick for work.Later on, the prisoners to the right were forced to fully undress and drop everything they owned to the floor. Their bodies were shaved completely and they were issued a number. This number voided out any past life they had. It simply wiped their past away and in its place was left a number. Another indignity that was bestowed upon he prisoners was being forced to give up their goals and face the terrifying thought that they no longer had anything to live for. Frankl writes, â€Å"Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on. † (pg. 5). Frankl suggests that once a man had lost all reason to live, he rarely survived much longer. Finally, an indignity described by Frankl as one of the worst things that he had to endure, was being forced to listen to insults towards him given by the camp leaders. He explains how painful it was to have to listen toa man Judge his life ven though he didn't know anything about him. The prisoners were forced to work and be treated like animals, while also being insulted to their core. They had already lost their identities, goals, and now they were forced to lose their own self-worth.According to Depree's list As men entered Hitler's death camps, they left behind their identities in exchange for a number. Life as they knew it would never be the same. According to Depree's list of the eight essential rights for workers (pg. 36), these men were stripped of many of these rights, which in some cases, helped lead to their demise. By taking away the risoner's identity, goals, and self-worth, they were left without any of the eight rights listed by Depree. Their right to be needed was disregarded since they no longer held a purpose towards a goal.They, of course, had no right to be involved since their input could cause them death. Their right to affect their own destiny was overturned when they stepped off of the train and was forced to go to the left or right. It wasn't up to them, at that very moment, whether they lived or died. They had no right to understand what was happening, since they were not considered a part of an organized workforce, but rather slaves. They had zero right to appeal and doing so would certainly bring about death.My list of indignities imposed on the prisoners of the Holocau st correlates well with Depree's list of rights for workers. While my list holds some of the basic indignities such as little food and water, forced labor, the inability to bathe or brush their teeth, it also holds some of the deeper indignities, in which Frankl describes as sometimes worse than the physical beatings that they endured Depree's Assumptions In order for Depree to comprise his list of eight essential rights for workers, he had to hold some assumptions about our society. Viktor Frankl No matter which camp a prisoner was sent to, he was sure to encounter brutal experiences and shameful indignities under the watchful eye of the Nazi's and their appointed camp leaders. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary efines indignity: l. a. An act that offends against a person's dignity or self-respect: Insult. Humiliating treatment. (Indignity, 2014). This definition doesn't seem to do justice when examining the cruel treatment of those imprisoned at Hitler's death camps. In Frankl's book, he tells of many indignities that were stripped away from them.He and his fellow prisoner lacked food, clothing, hygiene, and medical care. These indignities are cruel, but Frankl suggests that it was stripping of deeper indignities that could result in a man loss of will to survive. Prisoners were forced to: ive up their identities and become a number, give up on their goals and accept a lite of pain and suffering, and suffer mental agony at the insults bestowed upon them by leaders of the camp. M ost importantly, prisoners were forced to Just give up hope.A New Destiny Frankl describes arriving at his first camp, departing the train, and standing in a line before a Senior SS officer. He watched as the officer directed prisoners to either the left or right side of him, using his forefinger. He had no idea what this meant at the time, but later in the evening he learned that this was the process in which prisoners ere selected for work or for death. The men that were ushered to the right were the ones the SS officer deemed fit for work. Those that were sent to the left, were destined for the gas chamber, as they were seen as too old or sick for work.Later on, the prisoners to the right were forced to fully undress and drop everything they owned to the floor. Their bodies were shaved completely and they were issued a number. This number voided out any past life they had. It simply wiped their past away and in its place was left a number. Another indignity that was bestowed upon he prisoners was being forced to give up their goals and face the terrifying thought that they no longer had anything to live for. Frankl writes, â€Å"Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on. † (pg. 5). Frankl suggests that once a man had lost all reason to live, he rarely survived much longer. Finally, an indignity described by Frankl as one of the worst things that he had to endure, was being forced to listen to insults towards him given by the camp leaders. He explains how painful it was to have to listen toa man Judge his life ven though he didn't know anything about him. The prisoners were forced to work and be treated like animals, while also being insulted to their core. They had already lost their identities, goals, and now they were forced to lose their own self-worth.According to Depree's list As men entered Hitler's death camps, they left behind their identities in exchange for a number. Life as they knew it would never be the same. According to Depree's list of the eight essential rights for workers (pg. 36), these men were stripped of many of these rights, which in some cases, helped lead to their demise. By taking away the risoner's identity, goals, and self-worth, they were left without any of the eight rights listed by Depree. Their right to be needed was disregarded since they no longer held a purpose towards a goal.They, of course, had no right to be involved since their input could cause them death. Their right to affect their own destiny was overturned when they stepped off of the train and was forced to go to the left or right. It wasn't up to them, at that very moment, whether they lived or died. They had no right to understand what was happening, since they were not considered a part of an organized workforce, but rather slaves. They had zero right to appeal and doing so would certainly bring about death.My list of indignities imposed on the prisoners of the Holocau st correlates well with Depree's list of rights for workers. While my list holds some of the basic indignities such as little food and water, forced labor, the inability to bathe or brush their teeth, it also holds some of the deeper indignities, in which Frankl describes as sometimes worse than the physical beatings that they endured Depree's Assumptions In order for Depree to comprise his list of eight essential rights for workers, he had to hold some assumptions about our society.

Hell Hath No Fury Like Medea Scorned Essay

In Euripides’s Medea, revenge can lead to destructive actions. This theme is a central part to the tragedy, mostly because it pops up time and time again. Euripides, through the use of motif, makes Medea’s desire for revenge seem conceivable. Not only has Jason left her by marrying Creon’s daughter, but Creon has exiled her from Corinth because she â€Å"nourish[es] rancorous ill will toward [Jason and Creusa] whom [he] intends to protect† (Euripides 92). The protagonist is left with ultimately nothing and blames her misfortune on Jason. Throughout the play, Medea is described as a very determined and passionate woman who will stop at nothing to serve her sweet revenge. The death motif supports Medea’s theme of revenge because it foreshadows her plans for vengeance. Medea shows the horror that can come when a person lets desire for revenge rule one’s life. Death pops up very early in the play, when â€Å"death is [Medea’s] wish† (87). She explains how she wishes death on herself, her enemies, and her children. She could â€Å"think of nothing but the death of three persons† (96). This foreshadows her plans for revenge because she eventually kills Creon, his daughter, and her own children, leaving Jason with nothing. Medea’s plan for revenge starts with her children delivering a golden wreath and cloak that is cursed to burn the wearer’s body to death to Jason’s new wife Creusa. This leads to not only the death of Creusa, but also her father, Creon. Although Medea has caused much damage and havoc, her vengeance does not stop there. She wants Jason â€Å"crushed, boneless, and crawling,† and she wants to sever all ties with him (119). She claims that â€Å"as long as [my children] live; I shall be mixed with him† (120). This brings her to her final and most destructive act of revenge: she kills her own children therefore leaving Jason with no wife or power. Ultimately, Medea’s theme of revenge is supported throughout the tragedy and ends with Medea coming out victorious yet left with nothing to live for in her life. Death is brought upon multiple characters and is mentioned multiple times throughout the play. Euripides, by using theme and motif, sends a clear message that revenge can seem to control one’s meaning of life and leave a person empty and with nothing except for a rancorous spirit. Medea ends with the protagonist exiting, carrying her dead boys with no home, family, or a reason to live. The protagonist’s need for revenge leads to irreversible destructive actions that not only leave Jason with nothing, but Medea as well.

The Big Five And Five Factor Models - 978 Words

The Big Five or Five Factor models was originated from the studies on theories of personality traits, representing conceptual and empirical developments in this area, and describe basic human dimensions that are consistent and stable over time. The Big Five model began to be structured at the start of the Decade of 1930, when McDougall suggested analyzing the personality from five independent factors which at that time, were named intellect, character, temperament, disposition and mood (Digman, 1990). In Baltimore (Maryland), Robert McCrae and Paul Costa, in the Gerontology Research Center of the National Institute of Health, began an extensive program of research that identified the so-called big five factors: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experiences, agreeableness and conscientiousness. The following is the description of each: Openness to Experiences Openness to new experiences refers to people with high scores and tends to be creative. At the other end of the scale are the conventional and orderly, who like the routine and have a keen sense of right and wrong. I scored highest on openness to experience scale. This suggests that there exist a general appreciation in me for adventure, art, unusual ideas, and variety of experience. According to the results of this quiz, people who are open to experiences tend to be more aware and creative, and hold and accept unconventional ideas. Emotional Stability Emotional Stability (previous neuroticism) measures theShow MoreRelatedThe Big Five Factor Model1450 Words   |  6 PagesFive -Factor model According to the five-factor model (or Big Five), personality can be classified into five distinct dimensions. These dimensions include extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience (Forsyth, 2014). 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